With New York City FC and Orlando City joining Major League Soccer next year, the league will hold an Expansion Draft next Wednesday (December 10). Clubs are currently preparing to submit their player lists to league office – they are allowed to protect eleven players and could lose two. Here is a link to the full rules for the Expansion Draft. --- http://pressbox.mlssoccer.com/content/20...ion-draft-rules For MLS coaches, the next few days will be a guessing game as they take into account which pieces of their squad would be valued by New York and Orlando, but also being aware of the potential trade value of any players that are left exposed. Vancouver Whitecaps have built a squad that includes plenty of depth, and that makes them vulnerable to losing a player or two, as it is impossible to protect all of the players who played an important role for the club in making the playoffs last season. So lets throw a dart at the board and see how close we can get to the bullseye. Here are my predictions: Protected: Steven Beitasour, Sebastian Fernandez, Jordan Harvey, Erik Hurtado, Gershon Koffie, Matias Laba, Kekuta Manneh, Darren Mattocks, Pedro Morales, David Ousted, Kendall Waston Unprotected: Mehdi Ballouchy, Mamado Diouf, Johnny Leveron, Andre Lewis, Nicolas Mezquida, Andy OBrien, Mauro Rosales, Omar Salgado and Paolo Tornaghi The Whitecaps Homegrown Players do not need to be protected, so Sam Adekugbe, Marco Carducci, Caleb Clarke, Kianz Froese, Ethen Sampson and Russell Teibert are all automatically safe, as is Christian Dean, who is protected because he is on a Generation Adidas contract. Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson knows the whole process is a calculated risk: Youve just got to protect your players and the rest will take care of itself, said Robinson recently. And that is the key to this process. There is little margin for error, so the Whitecaps will have to ensure they protect the players they most want to keep, and not get into the game of wondering whether or not clubs would be interested in some of their key men due to other factors. We have seen in the past, clubs leave players unprotected because they believe a players high salary would make him undesirable and that has backfired on a few occasions. For example, earlier in the year, there was debate as to whether the Whitecaps would need to protect goalkeeper David Ousted as he is one of the most expensive shot-stoppers in the league, and takes up an international spot. But Ousteds performances towards the end of the season mean the Whitecaps cannot afford to lose him, so he must be protected. The majority of the players on my predicted protected list are easy decisions to make. Even with a player like Darren Mattocks – who likely will be traded in the New Year – it is necessary to protect him because of his value in the league. The Whitecaps will be able to receive something sizeable in return for the Jamaican striker rather than lose him in the Expansion Draft. The only slot I debated was whether to protect Sebastian Fernandez or Mauro Rosales. The Whitecaps would love to keep the veteran Rosales with the club next year, but it would need to be on much less money than last year. I believe Rosales could be more valuable than Fernandez next season, but the Uruguayan youngster has more upside in the long term. With both players, there are factors that would make the expansion clubs think twice about using one of their picks. Fernandez return to MLS hasnt yet been confirmed following his loan from Boston River last season, although both the Whitecaps and the player are hopeful of keeping him in Vancouver. As for Rosales, he could just decide to return to his native Argentina – if that happens, New York or Orlando would have wasted a pick. The same could be said for veteran defender Andy OBrien, who would be provide depth and veteran leadership to either of the leagues newcomers but is out of contract. I dont believe OBrien would be interested in the upheaval of moving to another club. He wants to stay in Vancouver, but if that isnt possible, he may just return to the UK. So of the players left unprotected, who are the Whitecaps most likely to lose? Mehdi Ballouchy would be top of my list. He has a wealth of MLS experience and would be a great player to have within an expansion squad. He is quality on the ball and can be a good influence on games in the midfield as he showed for the Caps last year off the bench. Honduran international Johnny Leveron has shown his ability and composure in the centre of defence but Im not sure whether either team would view him as the starting central defender that he wants to be. Even in Vancouver, it is unlikely Leveron will be the first choice to partner Kendall Waston in defence next year. Omar Salgado would be an interesting reclamation project should either NYCFCs Jason Kreis or Orlandos Adrian Heath believe they can get the unproven and unpredictable former top pick back on the right track after a controversial end to his time with the Caps. Of the players on my unprotected list, in my opinion, Nicolas Mezquida would be the biggest loss. Carl Robinson has often talked about Mezquidas qualities and ability but we have only seen limited glimpses of the young Uruguayan due to the fact he is an understudy for MLS Newcomer of the Year Pedro Morales. But its clear Robinson believes Mezquida will have a big role to play moving forward, and with the Whitecaps also in the CONCACAF Champions League next season, he could see his playing time increase dramatically. There is a strong chance Carl Robinson will lose one of his players on Wednesday. Thats the price to pay for a job well done in building a squad that has many valuable assets, even outside the players who are considered regular starters. Nike Air Max Tn Nz . - Vince Wilfork has played only two career games in Kansas City. Air Max 200 Cheap . Bjoerndalen, who had failed to win any major race for two years before Sochi, writes in a Facebook entry that he is "full of energy and inspiration" after winning the 10-kilometre sprint and mixed relay at last months Olympics. http://www.airmaxnzwholeale.com/cheap-air-max-off-white-nz.html . 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PETERSBURG, Fla.KANSAS CITY, Kan. - The first sign that Kansas Speedway was going to be a heartbreaker for Hendrick Motorsports should have come during qualifying when Jimmie Johnson inexplicably spun and earned one of his worst starting spots since 2005.Even that couldnt prepare the organization for the trouble it encountered during Sundays race.Johnson was involved in an early accident and finished 40th, which dropped the six-time and defending NASCAR champion to last in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings. It was Johnsons worst Chase finish since the 2005 season finale.It only got worse from there for the Hendrick cars. Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a tire problem while leading and hit the wall, causing him to finish 39th. Then Kasey Kahne also hit the wall — he too believed it was caused by a tire problem — and finished 22nd.Even Jeff Gordon, who finished a team-best 14th, had a problem. A tire got away from his pit crew during a stop, earning a penalty for the four-time series champion.A lot of people had trouble, so today was a real survival day, Gordon said.But Kahne, Earnhardt and Johnson are now at the bottom of the 12-driver field, and four will be eliminated in two weeks after Talladega. It means theyve got to be above average Saturday night at Charlotte to avoid having their championship hopes depend on Talladega.A win earns a driver an automatic berth into the next round, and on Sunday it went to Joey Logano, who picked up his fifth victory of the season.Johnson wants to also earn that automatic berth.It just means weve got to be on our game at Charlotte and Talladega, Johnson said. Certainly need Ws, I would assume, going forward.Here are some other major developments from the fourth race in the 10-race Chase:LOGANO SURGES: With his win on Sunday at Kansas, Logano once again proved hes going to be tough to beat in this race for the Sprint Cup.Hes won in both rounds of the Chase to stay alive in the elimination format, and his career-best five wins this season is tied with teammate Brad Keselowski for most in the series.Getting us to the next round, thats awesome, Logano said. Im having a blast this year, and weve got a real shot to win this championship. I feel like were one of the teams to beat.MIXED BAG: Although Keselowski visited his teammate in Victory Lane, the Team Penske group had mixed emotions at the end of the race.He was also felled by a tiire problem and finished 36th, lamenting after that the Goodyear issues turned the race into a game of Russian Roulette and it was our turn at the gun.ddddddddddddTeam owner Roger Penske said the focus must now turn to Charlotte and not what happened to Keselowski at Kansas.These races, when theyre over, theyre over, Penske said. Obviously well do whatever we can to help him. The whole team will. But the thing we cant do is make a big right or left turn here. Weve got to take on the same track were on.HARVICK NOT HAPPY: Kevin Harvick once again had one of the fastest cars on the track and nothing to show for it at the end of the race.He led 61 laps and was third when he headed to pit road with what he believed was a flat tire. His Stewart-Haas Racing crew found nothing wrong with the tires, but the damage was done: Harvick had dropped to 23rd, was out of contention for the victory and had to charge his way back to a 12th-place finish. He apologized to his crew over his radio.I thought I had a flat tire and pitted because you see all the trouble that is going on, he said after the race, explaining his car simply didnt turn.LARSON, AGAIN: Kyle Larson continued to creep closer and closer to his first career Sprint Cup Series victory with his second-place finish.Larson, a rookie who did not qualify for the Chase, has finished second in two of the last three races and was in a late battle for the win at Chicago before finishing third. Hes not finished lower than sixth since the Chase began.I definitely feel like Ive been running a lot better than what I thought I would to start the season, but I thought I would make the Chase, too, Larson said. I think midpoint through the season, I noticed I was running better than what our goals were and raised those goals into top 10s, and now the way weve been running, we want to be top-5 every week.BIG DAY FOR BUSCH: Kyle Busch has seen his championship hopes come to a crashing halt many times at Kansas, a track that he simply couldnt get a grasp of in the Cup Series.He finally ended his unlucky streak Sunday, a day after he won the Nationwide Series race, with a career-best third-place finish. It gave Busch a top-five finish at every active track on the Cup schedule, and moved him to second in the Chase standings.I won today, I just didnt get champagne and a trophy, he said. To get through Kansas feels nice. ' ' '